EGA emulation in VGA do exist. Western Digital; WD90C00, C11 and C30, C31. They usually have dip switches on back for selecting modes.
Some Trident cards do, Headland, etc.

Cheers,

Not the answer you're looking for but I gave up trying to find a EGA monitor or buying a converter and just went with a VGA card in a 8086 based PC that originally came with a EGA card. Not as "authentic" but still runs CGA and EGA software fine and I still have the option of VGA for those games that still run well enough on the machine.

I got lucky when I bought my EGA monitor. Can't remember the price, but I do remember it was less than £40 shipped. I wouldn't even consider trying to convert an EGA signal to VGA, as the resolutions are so different.

Probably your best option is to wait for MCE2VGA of dreamblaster/serdashop to become available again. Yes it's not a 10$ adapter but I don't see a better alternative.

I have Necroware/Scorp's MCE-Adapter https://github.com/necroware/mce-adapter. I built it myself with some help from Scorp.
However, you need a VGA monitor that supports 15kHz. I have NEC Multisync LCD1970NX. It supports everything (CGA/Hercules/EGA Low/EGA High).

I understand your frustration.

Personally, I don't like period-correctness, because I think it's superficial:
Many users back in the day changed the factory configuration according to their needs.
That's why I often can't help but have to shake my head if I work with "accurate" emulators.

Examples:
- 8086 got swapped out for a NEC V20
- Some users installed 286 or 386 upgrade boards, because their IBM was painfully slow
- IBM's MDA was immediately tossed out after purchase in favor of a Hercules Monochrome
- 512 KB were upgraded to full 640 or 704 or 736KB
- The limited IBM AT BIOS was replaced by the QuadTel BIOS
- Users upgraded their old PCs with a File Card/Hard Card
- Users retrofitted their PCs and XT with a Real Time Clock card
- An early mouse was installed to navigate in Norton Commander, etc.
- 256 KB-only VGAs were sometimes upgraded to 512KB by the piggy-back method
-Expanded Memory Boards were installed soon, in order to work on large projects
- et cetera pp

On the other hand, I do understand the need for this so called "period-correctness" when it comes to debugging purposes.

At some point, you want to recreate the official configuration for testing purposes
or to put yourself into the shoes of a developer of the time.
So you essentially work with the same limited hardware of a given time.

So I understand if you want to build a vanilla IBM AT 5170 with an EGA card.

What you can do (what comes to mind) :
- Use an analog RGB monitor and configure the EGA for CGA monitor.
It won't give you native EGA in 640x350 16c, but you use 640x200 in 16c.
Some games support that, too.

- Configure your EGA for an MDA monitor.
Mode 0F will work on a Hercules monitor in 640x350 monochrome.
Some games like Microsoft Flight Simulator support it.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/03/t … ga-and.html?m=1

- Use an early Super VGA card an run the mode utility.
Here, you can lock the VGA into EGA mode. It will then run in EGA emulation.
The VGA modes are all hidden to the software.

- Try to find a MultiSync monitor.
MultiSync monitors, like NEC MultiSync series, can work with different sync rates.
They often have both a digital and analogue input or can switched by a switch on the back.

Such monitors aren't common, but much easier to find than an original IBM EGA monitor.

A quick comment about the IBM EGA..
The original IBM card was equipped with a lousy 64KB of video RAM.
That's barely enough for 640x200 in 16c.
VGA cards, however, all come with 256KB minimum - which equals EGA's full memory expansion.

This makes EGA ironically to a sub mode of VGA cards.
EGA games like Commander Keen or EGATrek surely had their peek number of users after VGA cards were common.

From what I can tell, VGA quickly replaced its predecessors, as early as ~'88 I think.
Highly integrated 286 clones either had high-resolution Hercules or VGA on-board.
The bus mouse interface made many early VGA chips interesting, too.
Super EGA cards also existed in parallel for a while, providing 16 colours in 640x480, 800x600 and higher.
They also required MultiSync monitors, IBM's EGA monitor didn't do justice to them anymore.

I am still using this and happy with it 😉 You will not find anything cheaper but is some effort to set up:
6€ MCE2VGA replacement - CGA/EGA/HGC capture with logic analyzer

Demo here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPi47e0SOUg

This is also done iwth it:
https://youtu.be/FvCjBuS9NBc

mac57mac57 wrote on 2023-02-14, 22:11:

I naively thought that I could just buy a simple adapter, plug one end of it into the EGA output of the computer and the other end into a standard VGA cable to a VGA monitor.

No such adapter (mechanical) indeed, but you can build a low-end yet respectable converter for give-or-take 40 bucks: the GBS-Control 😀

Yes, like IMO all scalers it's missing the whole "experience", but it might be competive compared to buying a VGA card (also given it can be reused for other projects) and, tautologically, will be 100% EGA compatible at the BIOS/register levels!

Should be doable with pico and some resistors https://breatharian.eu/hw/picovga/index_en.html

Ryccardo wrote on 2023-02-15, 17:34:

No such adapter (mechanical) indeed, but you can build a low-end yet respectable converter for give-or-take 40 bucks: the GBS-Co […]
Show full quote

mac57mac57 wrote on 2023-02-14, 22:11:

I naively thought that I could just buy a simple adapter, plug one end of it into the EGA output of the computer and the other end into a standard VGA cable to a VGA monitor.

No such adapter (mechanical) indeed, but you can build a low-end yet respectable converter for give-or-take 40 bucks: the GBS-Control 😀

Yes, like IMO all scalers it's missing the whole "experience", but it might be competive compared to buying a VGA card
(also given it can be reused for other projects) and, tautologically, will be 100% EGA compatible at the BIOS/register levels!

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-02-15, 17:41:

Should be doable with pico and some resistors https://breatharian.eu/hw/picovga/index_en.html

What also works is a CGA to SCART adapter cable, at the loss of video modes and a few colours.
(That's because CGA uses RGBI or RGBI H/V, - Red, Green, Blue, Intensity and Horizontal/Vertical sync-, and not just plain RGB with Compsote Sync, I think.)
Any monitor capable of handling an 1980's analogue RGB signal should be compatible.
In the States or Canada, I suppose, some of these old Commodore Amiga monitors should still be obtainable (1080s etc).
Here in old Europe, any TV will essentially do. Even many 4K flatscreen TVs still have SCART on their back these days..

But even if not, many SCART to VGA adapters can be obtained, via Amazon or eBay, I suppose.
Some have RGB capabilities, which is needed here. Then you can use a good looking vintage VGA monitor with your EGA card.
Within the limits of the TV compatible CGA modes, of course (15Khz sync).
The Yellow vs Brown colour issue persists, also. EGA/CGA monitors had a hack installed to output brown, afaik.

Some random links for the CGA - SCART converter..
https://www.elektormagazine.com/magazine/elek … or-198703/47108
https://www.forum64.de/index.php?thread/73569 … -scart-adapter/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASDx-oVFbQ

mac57mac57 wrote on 2023-02-14, 22:11:

I naively thought that I could just buy a simple adapter, plug one end of it into the EGA output of the computer and the other end into a standard VGA cable to a VGA monitor.

You're not wrong, your conclusion wasn't bad. For CGA and SCART, this approach almost works. The sync combiner could be done passively, too, without a transistor.
(Note: Some SCART ports must be activated for RGB mode by applying a 3-5v signal on a specific pin.)
https://www.electroschematics.com/cga-scart-adapter/

With VGA, it's a bit more complicated, because not all VGA monitors are the same.
Under ideal circumstances, you indeed can input EGA's 5v TTL signal into an VGA monitor*, if it has clamp diodes inside.
This would trigger absolute -essentially digital- colours inside the VGA monitor.
You still don't have the extra intensity colours that way, however.

(*On an a more tolerant, "MultiSync" type of VGA monitor, I mean. )

Edit: Here's an interesting read about EGA.
It uses inverted Sync (negative 60Hz v-sync) in its native 640x350 16c mode, for example.
https://www.minuszerodegrees.net/mda_cga_ega/mda_cga_ega.htm

A few more loosely EGA related links:
https://minuszerodegrees.net/ibm_ega/IBM%20EG … 0RAM%20chip.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR7ng-7PBJo
https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/tag/ega-card/

The 286 really does span quite a range of hardware. EGA and MFM in very early models, up to VGA and IDE for later when it was fighting out for the low end of the market with the 386.

It's really down to your own preferences, but there's nothing 'period incorrect' about installing a VGA adapter if that is what you decide to do.

The EGA systems I’ve had were all connected to a CGA monitor or in one strange case a special monochrome monitor that came stock with an off brand 286 w/EGA

Now that I have a magnovox EGA monitor I don’t have an EGA display adapter

Thank you VERY much to everyone who has responded. There are some great ideas here that I will have to track down. It is great to know that the 286 spanned the dawn of VGA. This helps part way, easing my concern about period correctness, but I purchased this machine to test out two things: (1) low speed CPU performance of my VE text editor (see my earlier post on the release of v4.0c of this editor) and (2) EGA compatibility of VE . EGA and VGA do have some differences that software needs to account for, and while I have paper descriptions of these differences, and could work from them, I really want to test VE on actual EGA hardware.

To that end, I have continued my online research into this matter. It appears that there are about a dozen old VGA monitor models that, despite what their specs say, successfully pick up a 15.7 KHz scan rate and display it cleanly, even despite the TTL vs. analog nature of the signals. NEC MultiScan LCD monitors seem to do well in this category, with the 1550M garnering high praise in many corners for its performance with 15.7 KHz scan rates.

Right now, I just happen to have an NEC MultiScan LCD 1700V in my collection, and before going any further, I will "directly" connect the EGA output of this 286 machine to it and see if it just might happen to work. I say "directly" because it will be via a passive EGA-VGA cable, which moves the signals from their EGA pins to the appropriate VGA pins. These cables are reasonable available on both eBay and Amazon, so I am "good to go" for that.

All of this is a week or two in the future - the machine has been ordered on eBay but it has not shipped yet! I will keep this community posted after it arrives and I have more information from my testing.

Thanks again for your generous outpouring of wisdom!

Jo22 wrote on 2023-02-15, 18:20:

What also works is a CGA to SCART adapter cable, at the loss of video modes and a few colours. (That's because CGA uses RGBI or […]
Show full quote

Ryccardo wrote on 2023-02-15, 17:34:

No such adapter (mechanical) indeed, but you can build a low-end yet respectable converter for give-or-take 40 bucks: the GBS-Co […]
Show full quote

mac57mac57 wrote on 2023-02-14, 22:11:

I naively thought that I could just buy a simple adapter, plug one end of it into the EGA output of the computer and the other end into a standard VGA cable to a VGA monitor.

No such adapter (mechanical) indeed, but you can build a low-end yet respectable converter for give-or-take 40 bucks: the GBS-Control 😀

Yes, like IMO all scalers it's missing the whole "experience", but it might be competive compared to buying a VGA card
(also given it can be reused for other projects) and, tautologically, will be 100% EGA compatible at the BIOS/register levels!

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-02-15, 17:41:

Should be doable with pico and some resistors https://breatharian.eu/hw/picovga/index_en.html

What also works is a CGA to SCART adapter cable, at the loss of video modes and a few colours.
(That's because CGA uses RGBI or RGBI H/V, - Red, Green, Blue, Intensity and Horizontal/Vertical sync-, and not just plain RGB with Compsote Sync, I think.)
Any monitor capable of handling an 1980's analogue RGB signal should be compatible.
In the States or Canada, I suppose, some of these old Commodore Amiga monitors should still be obtainable (1080s etc).
Here in old Europe, any TV will essentially do. Even many 4K flatscreen TVs still have SCART on their back these days..

But even if not, many SCART to VGA adapters can be obtained, via Amazon or eBay, I suppose.
Some have RGB capabilities, which is needed here. Then you can use a good looking vintage VGA monitor with your EGA card.
Within the limits of the TV compatible CGA modes, of course (15Khz sync).
The Yellow vs Brown colour issue persists, also. EGA/CGA monitors had a hack installed to output brown, afaik.

Some random links for the CGA - SCART converter..
https://www.elektormagazine.com/magazine/elek … or-198703/47108
https://www.forum64.de/index.php?thread/73569 … -scart-adapter/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASDx-oVFbQ

mac57mac57 wrote on 2023-02-14, 22:11:

I naively thought that I could just buy a simple adapter, plug one end of it into the EGA output of the computer and the other end into a standard VGA cable to a VGA monitor.

You're not wrong, your conclusion wasn't bad. For CGA and SCART, this approach almost works. The sync combiner could be done passively, too, without a transistor.
(Note: Some SCART ports must be activated for RGB mode by applying a 3-5v signal on a specific pin.)
https://www.electroschematics.com/cga-scart-adapter/

With VGA, it's a bit more complicated, because not all VGA monitors are the same.
Under ideal circumstances, you indeed can input EGA's 5v TTL signal into an VGA monitor*, if it has clamp diodes inside.
This would trigger absolute -essentially digital- colours inside the VGA monitor.
You still don't have the extra intensity colours that way, however.

(*On an a more tolerant, "MultiSync" type of VGA monitor, I mean. )

Edit: Here's an interesting read about EGA.
It uses inverted Sync (negative 60Hz v-sync) in its native 640x350 16c mode, for example.
https://www.minuszerodegrees.net/mda_cga_ega/mda_cga_ega.htm

A few more loosely EGA related links:
https://minuszerodegrees.net/ibm_ega/IBM%20EG … 0RAM%20chip.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR7ng-7PBJo
https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/tag/ega-card/

I forgot the ultimate and very affordable (pre chip shortages) solution RGBtoHDMI
MDA/CGA/EGA/VGA to HDMI using Raspberry Pi Zero https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14430 https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI
As I said earlier RGBtoHDMI is ideal for porting to $5 Pico https://github.com/Wren6991/PicoDVI

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-02-15, 20:09:

I forgot the ultimate and very affordable (pre chip shortages) solution RGBtoHDMI
MDA/CGA/EGA/VGA to HDMI using Raspberry Pi Zero https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14430 https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI
As I said earlier RGBtoHDMI is ideal for porting to $5 Pico https://github.com/Wren6991/PicoDVI

My apologies, I kind of oversaw your earlier posting (I skimmed over it). 😅
I didn't mean to devalue your solution in any way.

I suppose it's a generation thing, also, not sure 🤷‍♂️ :
Personally, I'm more on the level of the early-mid 2010s when it comes to these RGB retro projects.
That's why the traditional, more discreet solutions do pop up in mind first, I suppose.

Everything post Arduino Uno is still new to mew, including those strange little new ARM Arduinos..
But on the bright side, I just got some time to try out
some of those new ESP8266 microcontrollers, at least. So there's hope. 😉👍

Jo22 wrote on 2023-02-15, 20:50:

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-02-15, 20:09:

I forgot the ultimate and very affordable (pre chip shortages) solution RGBtoHDMI
MDA/CGA/EGA/VGA to HDMI using Raspberry Pi Zero https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14430 https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI
As I said earlier RGBtoHDMI is ideal for porting to $5 Pico https://github.com/Wren6991/PicoDVI

My apologies, I kind of oversaw your earlier posting (I skimmed over it). 😅
I didn't mean to devalue your solution in any way.

You didnt, I totally forgot RGBtoHDMI existed 😀
Im all for simple oldschool solutions like passive VGA to SCART cable + CRTC reprogramming TSR because that particular solution works quite well and is super cheap, but with CGA and EGA you end up with timing and color issues. Even mentioned earlier GBS doesnt to brown without something like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koYytuESAHA